Author Archive
Big Impact, Small Changes on Amazon
You probably didn’t notice, but Amazon just made it easier to quickly glance at the product you want and get all the information you need in order to buy.
All it took was few simple changes to the text on their product pages. By adjusting the size, color and font of the text and removing unnecessary words, they’ve cleaned up the product pages and made them easier to scan and skim.
Here’s what’s new:
• Font & Word Choice — Larger, color headline. Selective bolding. Price is larger. Less verbiage.
• Up-sell Area — Now shows product image. Cleaner headline matches product page headline.
Before…
This is how Amazon’s product descriptions used to look. As you can see, there’s not much differentiation in the text. Although there’s a lot of important stuff to read, it’s all in bold — which basically makes bolding meaningless (think “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”).
After…
Product Name, Price and Availability are things that all visitors want to see when they’re on a product page. With these changes, Amazon has further highlighted what’s essential — as they did by changing the size and color of the headlines — or cut the fat — as they did by editing out unnecessary words and turning bold into light gray. After all, should we be looking at the word “Price” or at the actual price?
Exactly.
So, how does Amazon know which changes will make their website more easy to use and therefore convert better? It’s not because they’re any smarter than you or your CMO (although we’re sure Amazon has some very smart people). It’s because they’ve built “a culture of website optimization.”
If you want to test strategically (like Amazon), we can help.
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Written by:Daniel McGuigan
The Good, The Bad & The Pay-Per-Click Ugly
A few months ago, I showed how Dell had bought a PPC ad for “bestbuy Sony DSC-W80,” and although they were smart to buy this highly-targeted search term, there was no follow-through on the landing page.
Bryan Eisenberg bought the camera last year and was so happy with its performance that he’s been spreading the word around the office ever since. After doing a routine Google search, we noticed — unsurprisingly — that there are a lot of bidders for the term “Sony DSC W80″.
What we soon found was that, much like Dell, the landing pages these other e-tailers were taking visitors to illustrated everything from the good, to the bad, to the PPC-ugly.
Plenty of options…
Looks like there’s a lot of competition for this search term. If a searcher clicks one link and doesn’t find what they’re looking for, it will be easy for them to hit the Back button, to see if the competition makes learning about it — and eventually buying it — easier.
When customers have this many options, getting your link on the front page of Google isn’t enough; you have to bring them as far into the buying process as you can with the information you are given. Lets take a look at how well the different options presented here do at bringing the searcher closer to the purchase.
Make sure the Landing Page works
Walmart.com had one of the top 3 paid search results. When we click their link, we assume we’ll be taken where we’ll easily find the product that was advertised. Instead, the customer is brought to a non-working page (curiously titled “walmart9.com”), forcing them to click the Back button.
Obviously, Wal-Mart needs to update this URL. While it may have once led somewhere, it now only brings frustration to the camera-seeking masses. They’re losing sales and paid search credibility with anyone who clicks it.
Walmart.com surely has a massive PPC budget to oversee, and updates like this can slip through the cracks. But it serves as a good reminder to keep tabs on your paid search ads. If you notice one is converting poorly, or not at all, you should at least make sure the landing page works.
Give us a Brand or Category Page (at least)
Thankfully, Vanns.com doesn’t give us a broken link, yet it merely brings us to the homepage. This won’t do.
Since I typed in a specific brand and model number, I expect to be brought to a Product Page — or, at the very least, a Brand Page or Category Page. They have exact information about the product I’m looking for and they just drop me off on the homepage? Leaving it up to the visitor to first find a tiny “Digital Cameras” link, then navigate through the site to find the Product Page, is an unnecessary gamble, especially since the paid search link promised “Sony DSC W80 in stock!”
Why not take me directly to the Product Page instead of making me scan the homepage just to find a Category Page?
Sony’s word against Bryan’s?
You’d think the company that made the product would have something to say about the camera, even if it’s discontinued — which, apparently, it is. At this point, the halo from Bryan’s positive word-of-mouth is beginning to crack. (”Thanks a lot, buddy. Does this camera really exist?”)
SonyStyle.com is missing out on an opportunity here. Although they no longer make the camera, they could provide links to similar cameras, especially if there’s a newer versions of the same model — which there is. They could use this page to show improvements that were made to the newer model. This page provides visitors with nowhere to go besides Back.
• Manufacturers: It takes time to get the word out about your products. If you don’t take advantage of it, you’ll lose some sales from late adopters (a huge chunk of the market).
• Retailers: Don’t forget to capitalize on positive word-of-mouth from older model numbers. Turn would-be customers for those older products into buyers of the newer ones. If you still offer popular discontinued products, leverage that advantage with targeted Pay-Per-Click ads and Landing Pages.
Unscramble the Search
Finally, the product I’m looking for — and it’s right on the landing page. NewEgg.com has it down. They even show visitors the newer model on the same page!
NewEgg removes all the obstacles a visitor might go through to find the product (they’ve already clearly told Google) they’re looking for. They place visitors in the perfect place; this is where customers are in the buying process when they search for “Sony DSC W80″. It was a little harder to find this camera than it should have been, but ultimately, NewEgg shows how to get the most out of your PPC ads.
New research shows that fewer people are clicking Pay-Per-Click ads on Google. In past discussions on this blog, readers have expressed that they no longer use PPC ads because of numerous bad experiences. Perhaps that’s why so many companies out there aren’t optimizing or paying attention to their PPC ads, which — soon enough — affects how useful they are for consumers.
If Pay-Per-Click is part of your online strategy, make sure your ads are optimized. Otherwise, you’re leaving money on the table. PPC can be very valuable when used properly. But if you neglect it, and the experience isn’t useful for customers, these campaigns can negatively effect your business.
To be truly PPC- and Landing Page-savvy, here’s how to appeal to all buying modes.
. .
[Editor’s Note: Want to convert more customers with your Pay-Per-Click campaign? Contact us.]
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Written by:Daniel McGuigan
70% of Online Shoppers Read Multiple Product Reviews
An e-tailing group study commissioned by PowerReviews has further revealed the necessity for customer-generated product reviews on e-commerce sites.
It seems the majority of online shoppers want to hear what people like them have to say about the product they’re researching. Almost 70% of customers looked at more than 4 reviews before making a purchase.
The study also gives a sense of how long visitors spend reading reviews before their purchase (50% spend over 10 minutes) and found that most people read reviews once they’ve narrowed down their search to 2 or 3 products.
Just having reviews isn’t going to cut it, though. E-tailers must give the would-be customer something more if they want them to come back to their sites — not just to research, but to buy. If more than 50% of customers spend over ten minutes looking at reviews, that shows they’re looking for more than just an overall “star rating.” For instance, one way of boosting your reviews’ credibility is having a “pros and a cons” field for visitors to fill out. This will show visitors that you welcome criticism and are confident in your products, while making the reviews that much more valuable to other visitors.
Here are some tips and a screencast from Bryan to help plan and optimize your review system.
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Written by:Daniel McGuigan
Old Navy’s New (E-commerce) Tricks
Recently, Old Navy redesigned their site, adding a lot of value with a few changes. The new site provides several good examples on how to improve e-commerce usability by focusing on ways to reduce friction in the customer experience.
So, let’s take a look at some of the changes to their product pages and shopping cart to get a better sense of what they’ve done a good job of so far, and share a few ideas for other changes worth testing…
Better Image Views on Product Pages
As you can see, the site allows you to easily zoom into the product you’re looking at by using your mouse as a virtual magnifying glass. This saves the visitor time by not requiring them to open a pop-up window to view the product in detail — although they provide that option as well, it’s not as helpful as this excellent zoom view. By not forcing the customer into an extra step, the zoom feature will likely reduce Bounce Rate. But more importantly, better product views make people more likely to buy.
Easy Size Adjustments + Cart View
When you add items to the cart, you’re not taken directly to the cart and away from the shopping process. Instead, they acknowledge that your items are in the cart with this mini-cart drop-down on the upper-right side of the screen. After you’ve added the item, the mini-cart retreats to a simple checkout summary (# of items in cart and total price). Of course, you still have the option to go to checkout if you’re done shopping, but they’re not in a rush — in fact, they’d like it if you bought more stuff — which should help increase Average Order Value.
Adjust Your Order Without Leaving the Cart
Once again, OldNavy.com is looking out for the customer — right in the shopping cart, this time. They make editing item details as easy as I’ve seen it on any e-commerce site. One click of the “edit” button brings up this slick tool (pictured above), which allows you to change the size and color of your items in case you have a last-minute change of heart. Now that’s a smart way to lower cart abandonment. (Here are a few more.)
Ideas Worth Testing…
• I’m not sure why they’re advertising “free returns on all womens plus styles” when all the items in my cart are menswear; nor does it make sense that they let me know they have the product “Up to XXXL” when I’ve already chosen “Large” as my size; but those are minor details that shouldn’t have much effect on the shopping process. Still, this is prime real estate they’re wasting by delivering me a message that’s meant for someone else. The OldNavy.com team should consider tailoring these messages based on what customers have already added to cart, and testing whether it improves conversion and/or average order value.
• When planning an e-commerce site, ask yourself at least this one question: “What do I hate about shopping online?” I’d be interested to hear your response in the comments section, but in the meantime, I’m sure that if I were to poll everyone at Future Now, most of us would answer, “When sites make me ‘register’ before checking out.” They should test getting rid of that immediately. If you want to a customer’s permission to be contacted when they’re not currently trying to give you money, the least you could do is ask them instead of forcing the issue. If you do ask — and you most definitely should — please do everyone (your customers and your CFO) a favor and only ask people to ‘register’ after you’ve got both their money. You’ll have their email address by then, anyway, so it’s not as big of a deal at that point.
[Editor’s Note: Want more tips on how to optimize your e-commerce site? Read our free white paper on website optimization. Need specific ideas for your checkout process? We can help.]
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Written by:Daniel McGuigan
Just a Bit Off Target With Pay-Per-Click
Even giant e-tailers like Target.com can miss the mark now and then. Despite big budgets, keeping track of everything can be a nightmare to manage. But if you’re going to place Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads, it’s absolutely critical to follow though and check the links. The customer experience should be as effortless as possible, and if PPC ads don’t bring the visitors where they intended to go, they’re just one click of the “back” button away from your competitors. And if you don’t fulfill their expectation on a landing page, it’s less likely they’ll click your PPC ads in the future.
Nice ad placement
Here you can see that Target is paying for their ad to show up on top of the list for my search for “Logitech Harmony Remote.” Target is a company I trust, and it looks like they have exactly what I’m looking for, so I click the link.
Looking good, until…
Instead of taking me to the Logitech-branded page from the text ad, I’m taken back to square one: Target’s homepage.
The more logical choice
This is more like it. Although you can’t quite see from this last screenshot, the remote I had searched for was just below on this landing page (click the image to go to the page). Actually, I found it by typing in “target.com/logitech” since I’d already seen it in the text ad. But my job is to analyze these types of things. And that’s just it: Even if they remembered the web address from the ad, most customers wouldn’t bother.
While this may seem like nitpicking, these types of oversights show how a missing link can ruin an otherwise decent scent trail.
(If you’d like to see more examples like this, check out Bryan’s screencast on conversion-boosting tips for Target.com.)
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Written by:Daniel McGuigan
Dell Loses its Marketing Scents
What if you knew exactly what visitors were looking for when they came to your site. Say they’ve even told you the exact model they’re looking for. All they want is to get some details about this product and possibly make a purchase.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads allow you to know the directions visitors are heading, and can help you plan and optimize the experience in order to guide them along their buying process. PPC gives you a great advantage by allowing you to bring the visitor directly the thing they’re looking for, bypassing obstacles that may prevent them from even finding a product directly from your homepage . The more you know about your customers’ needs, the easier it is to fulfill them. Although most e-commerce shops run PPC campaigns to some degree, most get hung up on the search and keyword element of it, and forget that this is really about eliminating steps for the customer. As a result, they end up losing out on a lot of revenue.
Being #1 is not enough…
If you think this isn’t just as much a problem for big-time e-tailers, with huge marketing budgets, think again. The paths that customers follow are called “scent trails,” and precious few online shops seem to know much about them. For instance, check out this search results page for the term “Bestbuy Sony dsc w80″.
Dell has cleverly bought a PPC ad for this term in hopes of intercepting a few sales from the competition. But take a look at where they bring you when you click the link (and, remember, they’re paying for this to be at the top of the page). The product that was searched for is nowhere to be found. They already know exactly which product the visitor is looking for. All they have to do is bring this person to the product page for the item — or at the very least, show the customer that they do in fact have this item by placing it clearly within the active window.
The landing page disconnect…
If you’re paying for PPC ads, you need to get your money’s worth by bringing the visitor as far as you can, given what you already know about their needs. With the right keywords, you already have some information about what they’re looking for; you might as well make it as easy as possible for them.
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Written by:Daniel McGuigan
When Will My Order Arrive?
That’s a question a lot of sites have trouble answering. They likely know the answer, but the way in which they present the information is vague — if they present it at all. SheetMusicPlus.com does an exceptional job of answering this question in its shopping cart.
They give customers the information they need, stated clearly and in the visitor’s language. “About how long before I get my package?” Great question — and they’ve already asked it for you. Estimated shipping and delivery times are nice, but if you really want to make the customer happy, let them know when they’ll receive their order.
There’s one way they could improve upon this. Instead of showing the shipping options on another part of the page, SheetMusicPlus.com would be better off if they were to consolidate all shipping info and options in one place. They’ve already got me focused on the box in the top-right corner. Why squeeze “Shipping method” just above “Payment info”?
This may seem like small stuff, but these “minor details” are a big deal when it comes to closing the sale.
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Written by:Daniel McGuigan
PetSmart.com — A New Low for Drop-down Menus
PetSmart.com’s site relaunch gives us another great example of how drop-down menus interfere with a site’s usability. For instance, the drop-down menu for the “Dogs” category goes down past the bottom of the page. Those who aren’t proficient in using the scroll wheel on their mouse won’t even be able to get to the options presented below the fold.
When designing for 1024 x 768 resolution, don’t assume that the browser window is completely open.
There are a couple of easy fixes for this drop-down problem. (They should get rid of it entirely, but that may be asking too much.) At the very least, PetSmart should think about decreasing the font size or combining some of the categories to reduce visitor frustration and help good dogs get the treats and biscuits they deserve.
Kudos to Alex Harris for letting us know about the PetSmart.com relaunch.
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Written by:Daniel McGuigan
eBay Puts the Kibosh on Google’s “Inappropriate” Party
A lot of people have been wondering why eBay won’t allow the Google checkout option to be used for eBay transactions; it would make the buying process much easier for a large group of buyers. Wouldn’t it be great if eBay stopped forcing people to sign-up for PayPal just to make a purchase. The buying process should be as easy for the customer as possible. Google’s been looking for opportunities to get this message to eBay, and what better way to get their attention than throwing a rival party the same weekend as eBay’s Seller Convention in Boston? Everyone knows Google’s are the only tech-giant parties worth checking out (so to say).
Coincidentally, says eBay, after the invitations were out, eBay pulled all of its ads on Google. In response, Google was forced to concede defeat in this round and cancel its party. This isn’t the first time toes have been stepped on, and probably won’t be the last. Things are getting tense as these companies expand their scope. It will be interesting to see how this relationship works out in the long run.
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Written by:Daniel McGuigan
